Ryan Capili
Directing
Biography
Ryan Capili (b. 2001, Philippines) is a Filipino filmmaker based in Manila. His latest work, "forms of forgetting (2025)" was produced and exhibited at TARZEER Pictures. His short film "i was walking on the streets of chinatown (2024)" is one of the finalists of the 20th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival in 2024. Ryan's previous short "damgo (dream)" also won the best film for Manila Student Film Festival 2023 hosted by International School Manila. His experimental-documentary film "an elegy for the memories" have also been selected on numerous festivals such as Cinema Rehiyon 15, UP Cinema's Piling Obrang Vidyo, Bakunawa Film Festival, and 35th Gawad Alternatibo. He's also a writer-critic for Sinegang.PH. He is a graduate of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, with a Bachelor of Arts in Film, specializing in Directing, Writing, and Cinematography. He works mostly in the camera department of Film Productions. His films mostly come from personal experiences with themes usually revolving around memory, time, and longing. He uses the medium to express his rumination and show how he views the world from his own perspective.
Known For
Two unacquainted daughters are forced to kill time together through demystifying pregnancy and watching an adult sitcom as they await their fathers’ return from a night of endless gambling.
Ours Was A Timeless Night Burning
Five years after the death of his grandmother, Joaquin returns to their old, abandoned, soon to be torn down house, but gets stuck when an inherited item disappears.
forms of forgetting
In a fading town in Bulacan, a group of teenage misfits Lance, Maya, Alon, and Kidlat find company as they work together to pave a hidden path and sanctuary in the midst of their hometown facing imminent threats of erasure.
Elephant Paths
Four science high school students struggle to complete their capstone project—all while dealing with an oppressive principal, academic pressure, personal conflicts, and questions about identity.
Leslie, Germie, Benjie, Trixie
Twenty-year-old Tomas dreams of becoming a photojournalist. But between poverty and a secret that haunts him, he discovers the silent yet powerful truth of his lens. Will he ever capture the justice he seeks?
Light in the Shadow
In the final days of the Japanese occupation in the Philippines, a young Filipino seeking to provide for his family by identifying traitors, finds a young insurgent living in his home, leaving him to choose between his family or dignity to survive the Second World War.
Kung Ika'y Makapili
A student aspires to go for what he wants in university, but everyone around him hinders him from doing so.
dream
A film director returns to his hometown to shoot his latest film, only to find it transformed by the relentless passage of time.
i was walking on the streets of chinatown
an elegiac rumination on loss of memory. The filmmaker reflects on the experience of seeing his grandmother gradually lose her memory over time by weaving across archives and footages, utilizing the film as a medium for recollections even when they are at their most unsalvageable.
an elegy for the memories
Flor, a drag queen, is forced to walk home after a cancelled gig. Along the way, intense heat and sporadic rain test their health and resilience.
Danas
An isolating old man, haunted by the loss of his grandchild and unpaid bills, meets a child on an unlikely journey of warmth and rediscovery, all sparked by a power outage.
Nang Mawalan ng Ilaw si Lolo Tacio
Twenty-year-old Tomas dreams of becoming a photojournalist. But between poverty and a secret that haunts him, he discovers the silent yet powerful truth of his lens. Will he ever capture the justice he seeks?